Jane Remer’s Cliff Notes:
Problem: The Arts Are Dwindling in Our Schools. Especially opera.
Solution: The Metropolitan Opera to the Rescue???
“Here I go again
I hear those trumpets blow again
All aglow again
Taking a chance on love” ---Ethel Waters singing in the great movie, Cabin in the Sky
I am a passionate opera/music theater fan. I go to hear and see all varieties of the art form. I have worked with and for the New York City Opera, the Met Opera Guild for years, spent much of the 80’s at the National Endowment for the … [Read more...]

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As Igor Stravinsky once said, good composers borrow; great composers steal. So, instead of writing my own setting of the stage, let me steal from my fine colleague and friend at Common Core, Lynne Munson:
I challenge anyone to think of a nation that works as hard as we do to find silver linings in its educational failures. On Tuesday morning NAEP reported that, in the course of two years, our nation’s 4th and 8th graders improved a single point (on a 500-point scale) in three of four reading and math assessments, and flatlined on the fourth. … [Read more...]

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One of the things I have been thinking quite a lot about lately, besides having no power at home for the third time since July (four straight days this time), currently resulting from Saturday's somewhat bizarre snow storm, is the quite odd dichotomy between my work in K-12 and my work today in higher education.
In K-12 it was so often an issue of shoehorning arts education into the school day, extended or traditional. So much of the work evoked questions of how to get a seat at the table, strategies to incentivize the embrace of arts … [Read more...]

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A tribute is in order, I strongly believe, because I know few people who have been such fierce, honest, and strategic advocates for music and arts education as is Laurie Lock.
You see, Laurie, after 11 years of directing programs and policy at VH1 Save The Music Foundation, is stepping down to care for her daughter full-time.
Of course, Laurie has had great colleagues at VH1 Save The Music who have partnered with her on all of her great work. But if you haven't had the chance to work with her directly, you will have missed the opportunity … [Read more...]

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GIA Conference D3/Wrap Up
While this will be my final post as one of the three official conference bloggers, I have no doubt that so very much of what I encountered idea-wise will infiltrate not only my blogging on Dewey21C, but also my work for quite some time. That statement should tell you a lot about how I experienced the three days.
My posts have been quite linear So, in keeping with that practice, here’s a thought. It was interesting and affirming, that a fair number of presenters made a stump speech for the importance of arts … [Read more...]

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So, how does one take a dozen pages of hastily typed notes covering approximately seven hours of a conference day, including plenary, panel presentations, and forum-type sessions?
Hell if I know. Let's call it a blog in process.
I have to give everyone credit for how things kicked off. Right from the start, Janet Brown set a tone that was both welcoming and fun. And Janet went straight to GIA’s past president Vicky Benson who delivering a Coen Brothers inspired welcome message via video that kindly reminded everyone that this particular … [Read more...]

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It's Columbus Day morning in San Francisco. A great city to visit is what I always think upon arrival and when departing for home.
So, it's 5:00 in the morning, and since I am on eastern time, I thought, what the heck, I might as well post something, perhaps some preliminary thoughts on the 2011 Grantmakers in the Arts Conference. This year's conference theme is "Embracing The Velocity of Change." To be honest, I've never paid a ton of attention to any conference theme. Every conference has one these days, but how much one thinks about the … [Read more...]

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Help Wanted: Coalition Seeks Writers for New Arts Standards By Erik Robelen<http://blogs.edweek.org/edweek/curriculum/>
Ever looked at a set of standards and thought to yourself: Why on Earth did they include that? Or, I can't believe they left out XYZ! Well, enough of the Monday morning quarterbacking. A national coalition is looking for a few good men and women to help write a set of "next generation" standards for arts education.
Actually, to be more precise, it's trying to recruit 40 content experts, 10 each in dance, music, … [Read more...]

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What is the Future Role for the Arts In Public Education?
by Bruce Taylor
The increasingly contentious debate about school reform juxtaposes two contrasting realities about the arts: one, that their place in our schools has been steadily and seriously eroded; the other, that the skills inherent in artistic practice are rapidly becoming essential to a healthy 21st century economy/society.
Most articles concerning this disconnect focus their analysis outside the field emphasizing the combination of challenges that have resulted in the … [Read more...]

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Richard Kessler

Dewey21C

is a blog dedicated to the belief that the arts are part of our genetic code. The belief that the arts are in the DNA of every person, and that our job as teachers, parents, mentors, advocates, and administrators is to provide quality, sustained arts … [Read More...]

Listening

Blogroll

For those who have followed Dewey21C, hopefully you’ve noticed that I have been silent since the end of July. A month off from work followed that last post, and as we’re blowing through September, I have started a new chapter in my career as Dean of the Mannes College The New School for Music.

It’s not all that often that one gets a month off. It was a month that I viewed as time to leave behind the past seven years at The Center for Arts Education, while clearing my mind for the very new challenge of leading a music conservatory that is part of a fairly unorthodox university (The New School). It didn’t hurt that one of the founders of The New School, and father of its initial educational design was none other than John Dewey.

There is so much that I want to share about these early days in my tenure. I thought it would be a good call to start with something that had that sort of cold water in the face feel as soon as arrived at The New School.

In K-12, the pathway to college is and has been for many years the brass ring. Ten years ago it was simply getting students to college. For arts educators, we were being asked what we were doing to increase the high school graduation rates, with the presumption that graduates would move along to college at increasing rates, in addition to simply ensuring a higher high school graduation rate and all that it implies. Slowly it became about college and career readiness, which is the key frame for the Common Core Standards. What should a student know and be able to do in college and career. One way or the other, K-12 policy has been about getting more and more students to college, even if remediation rates are alarmingly high.

At the very same time, higher education is under fire. In almost every respect higher education is being challenged, whether it’s on the basis of cost, design, relevancy, etc.

Some say it’s better to attend DIY college. Others question the value of the degree altogether. It’s too expensive. It’s too abstract. The model is busted. There is no accountability. There is no data. It is hand cuffed by tenure and unions. Freshman enrollment is down. Students are taking longer to graduate.

Naturally, the above includes just a few issues in common with K-12.

You have to admit, at the very least, how fascinating it is to witness a sort of accountability movement in higher education, one which at time calls to question fundamental value, while at the very same time, most of K-12 policy continues to triangulate on moving students to college.

For me, at my new position, there is one particular question from K-12 that I find to be the perfect lens to peer through: what should a graduate know and be able to do. It is through that particular frame that I believe assessment and improvement is possible at my new job.